Manor of Hampton Court

The Manor of Hampton, later Hampton Court, was in the hands of Walter de St Valery in 1086, having been granted to him by William the Conqueror as a reward for his support during the conquest of England. The manor was sold to the Prior of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1237. The Prior leased the estate to various tenants, including Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, from 1514. Wolsey had permission to rebuild or alter as he chose, and he rebuilt the manor house, creating a palace of some splendour. King Henry VIII became jealous of the palace and for reasons of political expediency Wolsey gave it to him around 1525, although he continued to live there. After Wolsey's death Hampton Court became a royal palace; and in 1531 the Order of St John gave the King the manorial rights in exchange for other lands.

The Manor of Isleworth Syon was also granted to Walter de St Valery in 1086. The family retained possession of the manor until 1227 when it escheated to the crown. In 1229 a full grant of the manor was made by Henry III to his brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, whose son Edward inherited it in 1272. In 1301, Edward's widow Margaret was assigned the manor by Edward I as part of her dower, but it reverted to the crown on her death in 1312. The manor was eventually granted for life by Edward III to his wife Queen Philippa in 1330. The reversion was included in a grant of lands to Edward, Duke of Cornwall, in 1337. In 1390 Queen Anne the wife of Richard II was given a life interest in the manor. Henry V held the manor, as Prince of Wales, but when king, separated the manor from the duchy of Cornwall by Act of Parliament in 1421 in order to bestow it upon his newly founded convent of Syon. It remained as part of the convent's possessions until the dissolution in 1539 when it fell into the hands of the Crown and was added to the Honour of Hampton Court. In 1604 James I granted the manor to Henry, Earl of Northumberland, in whose family it remained.

Source of information: 'Spelthorne Hundred: Hampton: manor', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2: General; Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Feltham, Hampton with Hampton Wick, Hanworth, Laleham, Littleton (1911), pp. 324-327 (available online).